Private Parts
by MeredithBrody
Summary: Brody and Gibbs confront each other about their secretive natures. (Bribbs)


**So, we all have "Private Parts" by Halestorm to thank for this. It is the perfect song for this pairing. Purely because they are both stubborn, secretive and private people. I can only see that leading to a confrontation like this while they work things out. So anyway. It's been a while since I posted a Brody/Gibbs story. Enjoy.  
Shin xx**

* * *

 _ **Every time I try to get a little closer  
You shut down and the conversation's over  
I'm right here, but you leave me in the dark  
Show me your private parts.**_

* * *

Ever since she met Gibbs, Brody had felt like he'd kept her at an arms length about certain things in his life, and at times that was a problem. She laid in bed beside him when they got the time to be together and thought about the face she barely knew anything about what he thought, and how he felt. Whenever she tried he closed down and changed the conversation, she was fed up about that, and she wanted to bring it up. "You never let me in." She commented quietly, laid beside him after a night alone. It was the only chance she had to bring it up, and this was how it was going to go.

"I don't understand?" He commented, looking back at her. After a second she just sat up, trying to think of a way to say exactly what she was thinking about. It was never easy when she couldn't figure out the words she wanted to use exactly. Those words were what made things matter, and were how she would get it through to him that they needed to change something drastically. She couldn't go on like this really.

"We are basically the closest two people can be, but I don't know you." She sighed a little, and it was so hard for her to think of a way to make it so that he could duck what she was saying. She just wanted to know all of him, the dark crevasses as well as the front that he put on for the entire world. He had walls, walls that she couldn't scale yet, and she wanted him to throw a ladder over for her to try and climb a little easier.

"You know me as well as anyone, as well as I know you." _Anyone_ was a word that she already hated. Because it implied there was nothing more between them. All there was was a normal relationship. The same one they had with others in their lives. That wasn't what he was to her. Maybe that was all she was to him though. She no longer knew what to think.

"Is that all I am to you? Just anyone?" It was a painful thing to contemplate, that maybe she wasn't as important to him as she'd thought he was. Given the frustrated sigh she heard, that wasn't at all what he thought, but it was still how it had come across. That was a huge problem.

"That's not what I meant." He replied, shaking his head a little and sitting up too. She felt his hand on her lower back and just shook her head. She didn't need distracting right now, she needed to be helped into figuring out their relationship, and where they were going. That was the thing that was going to matter the most to them.

"What did you mean then?" She asked, not following this part of the conversation at all. He knew her better than anyone alive. It was hard for her to imagine letting anyone in the way that she wanted, and she knew that relationships needed. That was definitely a problem, something that she wanted to correct. She wanted this to last, and she was sure he did too.

"I'm hardly the only one who closes up." She turned her whole body to face him at that, not understanding exactly what he meant. Letting him in was something she'd tried to do, and she didn't think she'd intentionally stopped a conversation they'd been having because she didn't want to talk about it. Clearly though, he realised that she didn't understand his point. "I had to find out about your sister from King." There was a hint of hurt in his voice there, and she realised that she hadn't ever mentioned Emily to him, more than something in passing. Someone who had once existed in her life. Never in depth. That was as bad as what she was talking about.

* * *

 _ **Give it up baby, what are you afraid of  
Love sucks when you don't know what it's made of  
We get naked but I can't undress your heart  
Show me your private parts**_

* * *

That didn't really help her. She thought about the fact that he was right. She had hidden parts of herself from him too. Her history with her sister, the years between them first meeting and their reunion in New Orleans two years earlier. She just didn't speak about it. So maybe he had a right to shoot back at her for the same reason she was commenting to him. That just made her wonder what exactly they were doing here. "What exactly are we, if we can't speak to each other about the things that matter?"

"I'm trying to get there, Meredith." The way he always said her name, with a soft lilt on the end, it made her feel warm. Knowing that he was trying, for her, was enough right now. She needed to try more too, clearly. "I've hidden this for so long. I try not to show anyone this." He motioned to himself, and she couldn't help but smile a little. She knew he wasn't just talking about his emotional state there. She knew he had avoided relationships for a while, not wanting to risk getting close to someone for them just to leave. She totally understood that. But she needed to know what they were to each other now.

"It's the same here." She knew that most in New Orleans hadn't even known she had a sister until the _Moultrie_ investigation had restarted. She just didn't talk about her sister. She'd hinted a couple of times before that that she hadn't been an only child, but she'd never outright said it. "I hid my grief for Emily for so long that... it became second nature." Breaking that nature seemed to be a lot harder than it once had been

"We can do this, share a bed, share a life." They had spoken about sharing a life together, as much as they could when they lived in different cities in different states, but she had been a little hesitant. All because of situations like this. They were physically so close, but sometimes emotionally they couldn't be more distant. "But it's gonna take time to show each other exactly how affected we still are." He leant his forehead against her back, and she just took a breath, thinking for a little while.

"Let's talk, for real." She suggested a few minutes later, turning back to look at him. She knew that that wasn't exactly something they were good at. But one or the other of them needed to suggest it, and to start trusting the other completely. She was ready to take that leap, and she knew that if she took it, he would follow her over. "Show each other these private parts of ourselves."

"We can do that." He replied and gave her a smile then leant forward to kiss her softly before laying down. She continued looking at him, trying to decide what exactly was the next step. It seemed that he was already ahead of her. "Tell me about Emily?" The question was one that, out of any other mouth, she would have dreaded. When it came to him though, she was happy to talk about her with someone she loved, and someone Emily would have loved too.

"I can do that." She smiled and cuddled back into his arms. She had to admit that she was just as bad for hiding parts of herself, and she couldn't get angry at him if she wasn't going to open up herself. The truth was that she really did want to speak more about Emily, and if he was going to let her talk then it was going to be something positive. Especially as it would give them both a board to jump off. She wanted to go all in, and this was definitely something.


End file.
